People around the world celebrate different holidays throughout the year. Over time, people have shared and passed down family and holiday traditions, which add to the beauty and joy of celebrating a holiday. Holiday traditions can originate from a specific cultural tradition or a blend of cultures, and they can also be new ones that we make up on our own. In some cultures, certain holiday traditions are very similar, which shows we have more in common than we may realize. No matter what your holiday traditions are, one thing we all can agree on is how special and happy holiday traditions make us feel.

We ran a contest and asked kids at Piscataway Library to tell us about their favorite holiday and favorite holiday tradition using words and / or pictures. Kids could write about any holiday during the year, and we received some very interesting stories. We received 28 submissions and everyone that participated in the blog contest deserves a “high five” for doing an amazing job writing about and illustrating their favorite holiday tradition. With so many wonderful submissions, it was hard to pick one winner so every child that participated in the contest received a cool sticker of his or her choice and a mini coloring book / activity pad and stamper. We also had a random drawing to give away a special prize to one winner. Congratulations to Anushka, a preschooler, whose entry was selected. Anushka won a copy of Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss!!

A big “thank you” to everyone that participated in the blog contest. Your stories and drawings are ready to share with the world! If you participated in this blog contest, stop by Kennedy or Westergard Library, starting January 10, to pick up your prize and let us know which library you would like to pick up your submission if you would like to have your story / drawing back. Great job everybody!! 🙂

Christmas by Anushka, Grade Pre-K: My favorite holiday is Christmas and I like to decorate our Christmas tree.

Valentine’s Day by Giula DeSantis, Grade K: I like Valentine’s Day because we get cards and candy!

Easter by Mia DeSantis, Grade K: I like Easter because I like to hunt for eggs.

St. Patrick’s Day — by Brianna Avezzano, Grade 3: My favorite holiday is St. Patrick’s Day. I like St. Patrick’s Day because it is a day of good luck. Saint Patrick was a Saint and a Patron, and he died on March 17, 461 A.D. in Ireland. You wear green to be invisible to leprechauns.

Diwali by Aryana Patel, Grade 3: My favorite holiday is Diwali. Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is indeed the most awaited and most celebrated festivals of India. Diwali goes on for 5 days. Lighting of the Driyas and candles all around the house, worshipping the Laxmi Ganesh. Here are 3 reasons why: 1) The first reason why Diwali is the best holiday is because you can put up lights. For example, my family puts lights on our doorsteps. 2) The second reason why Diwali is the best holiday is because you can make flowers on your doorsteps. For example, we make all different kinds. We use sand to make the flowers. 3) The third reason why Diwali is the best holiday is because we dress up. For example there’s always designs on our dresses.

Christmas by Isabella Bohorquez, Grade 2: Christmas, Christmas, Christmas is here. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays of the year. On Christmas kids come to houses to sing Christmas carols. There is a guy named Santa Claus. He leaves presents for kids and some people leave Santa cookies and milk.

Christmas by Anissa Guetahoun, Grade 2: My favorite holiday is Christmas because you spend time with your family and people come to your house and some are dressed up as Secret Santa and you give presents out to kids and you get candy canes.

Christmas by Haley Umang Patel, Grade 2: My favorite holiday is Christmas. I like to help my mom make cupcakes.

Easter by Veera Umang Patel: I like Easter. It is fun. I get to see rabbits.

New Year’s by Avani, Grade 5: It was New Year’s Day and my family was sitting on the couch waiting for the count down. We had a tradition, where we would eat 12 grapes during the count down for good luck. “Avani, it’s time!” my mom yelled. I quickly started shoving grapes in my mouth, and 10 grapes later, I heard “3-2-1!” I shoved the rest of the grapes down and smiled. That is my favorite holiday tradition.

Chinese New Year by Nancy Deng, Grade 5: My favorite part of the holidays is spending quality time with family and friends on Chinese New Year!

Christmas by Kaiyi Jiang, Grade 4: Yo, I got a VR player for Christmas. I enjoyed it so-o-o badly that I got crazy with it! I even caught a laser fish! It is one of my top #1 favorite fish! I was fishing like a bear! Check out my drawing of my fish below. Wow, Christmas is like a miracle! I LOVE VIDEO GAMES! 🙂

Christmas by Jiaya Jiang, Grade 1; On Christmas, my sister had a VR challenge. She gave it to me and she put it on Goosebumps. It was not Goosebumps and it was OSUM — the Monster was a big mascketow! Check out my drawing of the monster below!

Christmas by Ana, Grade 1: My favorite holiday is Christmas. First, I wake up on Christmas Eve and make cookies and a gingerbread house. Then I make a lunch which includes turkey, mashed potatoes, salad and a pie. I get ready and set up the table for the party I am hosting. I call my neighbor and her family for the party. After the food, we go to the theaters and watch a movie. Then we go watch fireworks. I sleep and in the morning open presents. After that, I spend the day in New York. Merry Christmas!

Christmas by Nataly, Grade 1: My favorite holiday tradition is to play in the snow and make snowmans.

Christmas by Noah, Grade Pre-K: I like to make cookies.

Christmas by Nyla, Grade 3: I like to play in the snow and go to my cousin’s house. I also like to decorate the tree.

Eid by Maroua Choukrane, Grade 7: My favorite holiday is Eid. In Eid, the whole family gathers together and we have a feast. Eid might sound like Thanksgiving, but it is very different. On Eid, we don’t eat turkey, we eat lamb. I enjoy it very much.

Christmas by Nyla Brown, Grade 1: I celebrate Christmas with my family because it is the Best day!

We asked kids to submit a book review for the Written on Mittens contest. Kids submitted the title and author of a book they read, and included one sentence describing what the book is about and one sentence about their favorite part of the book. They also rated the books with 1 to 5 stars to indicate how much they liked the books. Every child that submitted a book review received a raffle ticket and was entered into a contest for a random drawing. We had over 50 submissions from Kennedy and Westergard Library.

Congratulations to our winners, Zoe Wilson and Amay Patel! Zoe reviewed the book, Geoffrey the Groundhog Predicts the Weather by Bruce Koscielniak. Amy Patel reviewed the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney. They both enjoyed reading their books and gave their books 5 stars. Posted below are some of the book reviews that were submitted. Please enjoy reading the book reviews and check out a book yourself!

For National Poetry Month, we asked kids to compose a “concrete poem” for our blog. Concrete poems are poems that can be written in any shape. The words inside the shape do not have to rhyme. We asked kids to draw a shape and fill it in with words related to the shape they drew. We also encouraged kids to share a favorite poem or to make up one of their own. Check out the fabulous concrete poems submitted two students — great job, guys, and we included some of our staff’s favorite poems. What is your favorite poem?

Books by J. Vidushi, Grade 2

Wind by Y. Sohoni, Grade 2

Ms. Patty’s favorite poem: Sea Fever by John Masefield

Ms. Cindy’s Favorite Poem: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

With all the different holidays that kids can celebrate with their families, we asked kids to tell us about their favorite holiday and how they celebrate it in words and/or pictures. We received 11 submissions and participants received a free polar bear sticker and were entered into a random prize drawing for a $15 gift certificate for Fratelli’s Pizza…yum 🙂 Congratulations to Mahira, Grade 4, for her winning entry below about Eid-ul-Fitr, her favorite holiday.

We want to congratulate everyone that participated in this blog contest because you all did a fabulous job writing about and illustrating your favorite holiday, which makes you all winners! Many thanks to everyone that participated and here are your awesome entries, ready to share with the world:

Mahira, Grade 4 ~ My favorite holiday is Eid-ul-Fitr because we get together a lot. My favorite parts are that we get to go to other people’s houses, spend time together, and open presents.

Nafia, Grade 3 ~ My favorite holiday is Eid-ul-Fitr. In this holiday, we go to the masjid and pray special prayers. After that, we open presents. It’s like Christmas too! My tradition is after we open the presents, we go to a special party. And we also go to our relatives’ houses.

Ava, Grade 5 ~ My favorite holiday is Christmas because of all the decorations and presents 🙂

Owen, Grade 4 ~ My favorite holidays are all of them. They are all my favorites because they always make the day/days even better. They are always fun for me to celebrate…no matter what.

Rebecca, Grade 5 ~ My favorite holiday was Chinese New Year! We usually lit the firecrackers and watched the fireworks. We also had a Chinese New Year parade. The last, but not the least, we all gathered together and ate dinner, food like rice, noodles, and dumplings all served on the table!

Sophia, Grade 1 ~ My favorite holiday is Christmas. I love Christmas because of lots of snow and presents.

Ritika, Grade 2 ~ My favorite holiday is Christmas because it’s the best time of the year. I get gifts from Santa and my whole family is together.

Hayden, Grade K ~ My favorite holiday is in the winter. In the winter, I made a snowman. I like to paint in the winter.

Henry, Grade Pre-K ~ My favorite holiday is in the winter. I like to play in the snow and make a snowman.

April is National Poetry Month and we asked kids to share their favorite poem, limerick, or rhyme. Kids were encouraged to write and illustrate a poem. Take a look at the “great job” that Ava, Connor, and Chris did!! What’s your favorite poem?

For President’s Day, we asked kids to tell us which U.S. President they would like to meet and why, if they could meet any President in U.S. history. Two students drew and wrote a short story about a President they wanted to meet. Read about their meetings with the President of the United States:

I would want to meet George Washington. First, I would want a boat ride with him. The, I would want to have a picnic with him. It will be awesome! But then I have to to go home. –Zarah Bacchus, Grade 3

On a sunny day, my family went to Washington D.C. When we got to the White House, President Obama invited us in. I asked him how busy he was. He said it was busy. My parents had a long talk with President Obama. We waved goodbye and hopped in the car. To me, that was the best trip in the whole universe!!!! — Sairakshitha Ramesh, Grade 3

All About the Earth is a story written and illustrated by 3rd grader, Dil Joshi. Dil came to Westergard Library and asked if he could have his book shelved with the other books in our children’s non-fiction collection in the library. While we weren’t able to add his book to our collection, we were able to publish his book on our blog and share it with you–our readers. Click on image to view full size.

Dil did a fantastic job illustrating and writing about the earth! Great job, Dil!! If you like Dil’s story, be sure to tell him how much you enjoyed reading his story by commenting below. Who knows, one day, we may be reading more books by Dil Joshi, and you can say you read his first book here!

If you have a story, a poem, or artwork you would like to share on our blog, stop by with your writing and/or artwork at the Children’s Information Desk at Kennedy or Westergard Library and ask to have it submitted on our blog, the Sandbox.